"Alex's phone is down for the night, everybody." The circuits announce from the control tower, and the emojis file out of their cubes.
Hi-5 runs over to Gene, stepping past the VIP rope, "Did you see that? TWICE in one day, I'm telling you buddy, this hand is going to be on top of the favorites page again! Suck it, fist bump!" He excitedly taunts his competition, who did seem to be gradually falling out of Alex's favor.
"I'm happy for you Hi-5." Gene replies. "But hey, have you seen Jailbreak around?" The princess had been skipping out on her shifts manning the scanner lately, and Alex had been texting Addie so often that he had been putting in overtime. It meant they didn't get to spend very much time together, but they still usually caught up after work and hung out over dinner. Gene had been slowly working up the courage to buy her a ring and make things official, but for now their midnight escapades to Youtube or Spotify were enough. 'Love', was a big word, but Gene had said it a few times, and he swears Jailbreak whispered it once when he was falling asleep.
Hi-5 looks away, caught off-guard. "Well," he says, "I think last time I saw her she looked all ready to do her, y'know, hacker stuff." He mimes her typing with his big fingers. "Maybe try someplace like that piracy joint she goes to." Gene is inwardly shocked. Jailbreak still went to that place? He thought she had been satisfied with her work in the scanner. He thanks his friend for the information and hurries off to try and join her.
Just like Hi-5 said, Jailbreak was in the piracy app, in the same corner she met Gene and Hi-5 back when Gene still wanted to be a pure and ordinary 'meh' emoji. She was currently working on a code for an internet troll that offered her a significant amount of remote hard drive space if she made a program that would ensure his IP address couldn't be blocked by Twitter and Instagram users. As she worked, she mourned for the ultimate victims, but she knew she had to look out for her number one in this case.
"Hey, ma'am, would you happen to know where I could find that princess who ran away, I think her name was 'Linda'." Gene says as he approaches her makeshift desk. Jailbreak looks up from her work and grins slightly. For a moment, Gene thought he saw what he called her 'guilty-eyes', her expression when she got caught raiding the dessert fridge at four AM. He brushes it aside and continues his game.
"Why- ma'am!" He continues. "I can't believe it! Is there a princess here, in this dirty place?" He peers closely at Jailbreak, and she giggles at his mock scrutiny.
"Nah, can't be." He says. "The missing princess is wayyy too smart to wear a hat like that!" Jailbreak punches him in the arm and they laugh together.
"The real question is, what are you doing here, Mr. Celebrity?" She says. "Alex finally realize that even the hospital emoji is cooler than you?" Her face feels a little flushed when she talks to Gene sometimes, but if he notices he doesn't call her out on it.
"You know it! That' dude is finally where he belongs. On top of the charts." Gene says. "But seriously, That boy is constantly on his phone, even in class! Can you believe it?"
They laugh about Alex's habits and lament the new teen trends of the day. "Eggplant has gotten super popular lately, like the guy is totally living it up in the Favorites now, it's hard to believe he was ever in the loser club. To be honest, no-one gets it, not even Eggplant, even though he pretends to." Gene says.
Trojan horse eventually kicks them out to make room for paying customers, and they hold hands on their way back to the emoji app when Jailbreak stops.
"Hey, do you want to take a walk by Dropbox?" She asks.
Gene can't read her expression, but he agrees to go anyway. They get past the firewall and to the control box without a hitch, but Gene could tell that something - he wasn't sure what - was up.
"Do you remember the first time we were here, Gene?" Jailbreak asks. She's still holding his hand, but she's turned to watch his reactions. Gene squeezes, to remind himself that she's still there.
"Of course I do. You broke my heart here, you know." He says. For some reason Gene was nervous enough to become the barfing-face. Where was she going with this? He can't leave his cube now, she had to know that! Jailbreak lets go of his hand, and he feels his universe spin. "Are you…" He pauses. "Are we going to the Cloud? Is that why we came here, Jailbreak, to upload our data?"
She doesn't answer for a moment. The question lingers. "Kind of. I think I should go, I at least… And Gene, I think you should stay."
"You're leaving me."
Jailbreak sighs. She avoids eye contact.
"It's like I said, I had a plan, Gene. I was going to see the world. And you're doing so well in your cube, I couldn't ask you to give that up." Jailbreak says, looking into the Cloud, all the data running from Alex's phone to every corner of the world. She turns away from Gene, who was on the verge of becoming the shocked-crying face, a mashup Jailbreak had only ever seen when his father suddenly passed away with an update. Her fist tightens at her side.
"And… what are you going to do out there?" Gene asks.
"I'm going to explore, and hack, and follow my dreams. They're still there, it's not like they left when I started to love you." Gene was still struggling to keep up with what she was saying. She takes his hands, trying to hide the sad face within her, too. "And you, Gene, you're going to be a great emoji. Your dad would be so, so, so proud. I just know it."
The tears were welling on Gene's face. He knew what was coming, but he thought there could be a change in the plan, a last-minute plot twist that would keep the ugly truth away. "So what does," He pauses, reaching for words, "What does this mean for, you know, us? If you're exploring, how will I get to see you?"
"Maybe…" she trails off, "maybe it means we don't see each other as much, Gene. I don't think I'm going to be able to come back from the cloud very often once I'm out there. This may be goodbye…for a while." She laughs a little, "I'm not even sure if I can get back to Alex's phone after I go. There are just so many smartphones, you know?"
Gene stands on the opposite side of the dropbox landing, the side closest to the exit, closest to the jailbreak, closest to home. Jailbreak is on the side of the Cloud, of absolute freedom. He doesn't say anything. Jailbreak sends him one of those consolation-smiles, and opens her mouth to speak, but then thinks better of it.
"I love you, Gene." She says. "Take care." And then she uploads herself to the Cloud.